It got loud this week for the Big 12 Conference, and it wasn’t just about the games. On the set of Big Noon Kickoff on Fox Sports, Dave Portnoy, yes, that Dave Portnoy, made a point that felt longer than the usual pre‑game jab. He said, straight up: “The Big 12 gets no respect. Games on the field matter. I care about who has more points at the end of the game. BYU Cougars are undefeated and are 100% a Top 10 team.”
No fluff. No half‑step. Portnoy isn’t the typical college football analyst, but in a sport where every narrative gets rerun and rewritten, his take hits. For the Big 12, a conference fighting for every inch of credibility in the new media‑rights era, it’s a moment worth noting. He threw social capital behind BYU and, by extension, made a broader claim: this league is vastly underrated.
The timing matters, too. BYU being undefeated doesn’t just exaggerate the point; it amplifies it. Portnoy looked at the resume, noted the facts, and pulled back for a wider angle. “Games on the field matter,” he said. That’s a reminder directed at the fans, the networks, and maybe even the other conferences: you can’t bury the output and expect no one to notice.
Portnoy’s endorsement isn’t a trophy, but it’s worth more than simple chatter. It puts BYU in the spotlight, makes other Big 12 schools examine how they measure up, how they project, how they deliver when cameras aren’t flashing. And for the conference as a whole, it’s a dash of validation: yeah, the Big 12 matters. The games matter.
If you’re watching this season as a fan or as a program trying to raise the ceiling, Portnoy’s pop‑culture platform turning into a football moment is a cue. The league’s got to keep earning those points, earning those wins, and showing up consistently. Because in an era where media and money threaten to drown the basics, someone speaking the old‑school language of “who scored more” still lands heavy. And yeah, that’s about as real as it gets.
